Jam release lever



Oct. 15, 1968 H. w. AUBREY 3,405,568

JAM RELEASE LEVER Filed March 25. 1966 INVENTOR.

BY HOWARD W. AUBREY KM? I jw- ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,405,568JAM RELEASE LEVER Howard W. Aubrey, Westwood, Mass., assignor to NashuaCorporation, Nashua, N.H., a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 25,1966, Ser. No. 537,515

4 Claims. (Cl. 74522.5)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention is a lever that may beattached to copying machines of the type which use a drive roll workingagainst a spring-biased slave roll for driving paper through themachine. The lever is a plate having an outwardly extending projectionfor enabling the plate to be manipulated, a finger lying in the plane ofthe plate and extending outwardly therefrom which is insertable be- Thisinvention relates to release levers, and in particular to a releaselever which may readily be attached to existing copying machines inorder to spread apart the paper feed rolls thereof in order to removepaper that has become jammed therebetween.

In several copying machines on the market, rubber rolls are used toconvey the copy paper through the machines, these rolls being generallypressed tightly to gether. One of these rolls is generally chain driven,and drives the other (slave) roll by means of gears on the drive shaftsof the rolls which interengage. In the use of such machines,occasionally a paper will jam between the rolls (in some cases even tothe extent of becoming wrapped around one of the rolls, generally theslave roll) and needs to be removed. Customarily, what is done 'is toremove a cover on the copying machine in order to gain access to therolls, and then the jammed paper is forcibly pulled out from between therolls, the rolls being held against any rotation because of theinterengaged gears. In view of the fact that the rolls tightly grip thepaper, the paper often tears during attempts to remove it, and thisnecessitates a lengthy job of removing all of it. Also, the jamming isoften so bad as to necessitate a service call in which a'section of themachine is dismantled in order to free the rolls to permit removal ofthe paper.

In these machines, one of the rolls (the slave) is customarily biased byspring tension against the drive roll. Therefore, a need has arisen fora simple means to be incorporated on the machine as it is manufactured,or which can be attached to machines by the users thereof, which willenable theoperator to, move the biased roll away from its companionroll' in order to relieve the interengagement of the rolls and theirgearing, and thus to free the paper for easy removal. It is the generalobject of this invention to provide such a means.

Therefore, among the several objects and advantages of the invention maybe noted the provision of a simple jam release lever for copyingmachines, which may readily be incorporated on the machines; theprovision of a release lever of the aforesaid class which is simple andeconomical to make by punching and bending operations; the provision ofa release lever which incorporates means to prevent the lever from beinglocked in place on the machine in such manner that parts of it will bearagainst rotating parts of the machine, thus causing undesired wear ofthese rotating parts while the machine is being used; and the provisionof a jam release lever of any of the above kinds which can be left inplace on the machine without harm to the machine. Other objects andadvantages will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the elements and combinations ofelements, features of construction, and arrangements of parts which willbe exemplified in the structures hereinafter described, and the scope ofthe application of which will be indicated in the appended claims. I

In the accompanying drawings, in which the dimensions of certain detailsmay have been exaggerated for purposes of clarity: I

FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of a release lever of this invention mountedin place on a copy machine, the latter being shown only schematically,and with custom ary roll gearing removed;

FIG. 2 is a sectional elevation of a portion of the FIG. 1 combination,showing the release lever in place and illustrating details of mountingthe lever in place;

FIG. 3 is an illustration of the release lever of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 1, but showing interengaging gearing onthe rolls of the machine as spread apart.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 4, there is shown schematically a side viewof a copy machine 2 with a cover thereof removed in order to gain accessto the ends of the feed rolls 4 and 6 thereof. The release lever of thisinvention is indicated generally by numeral 8, and is attached to sidemember 36 of the machine by means of the mounting screws 10 and 12. Roll4 is biased against roll 6 by a spring 7, and customarily each roll isprovided with a gear, indicated by numerals 40 and 42, whichinterengage.

Referring now to FIG. 3, in which is illustrated a view of the releaselever, the latter comprises a plate 14 of sheet metal, the plate in thisembodiment being of generally rectangular shape having a top edge 16, abottom edge 18, side edge 20, and side edge 22. Projecting from the topedge is a finger extension 24, this being conveniently formed when therelease lever 8 is punched from a sheet of metal in a conventionalpunching press. It will be noted that the finger 24 is located at oradjacent the side edge 20, and its plane is preferably in the plane ofthe body 14. For adaptation to certain machines, finger 24 may need tobe offset from the plane of the plate 14 in order to have the fingerbear properly at its intended location as will be described below.

Near the other side edge 22 is positioned a finger piece 26 whichprojects outwardly from the plane of the plate 14. In this instance, thefinger piece is formed by providing an extension of the top edge 16(preferably during the punching operation which makes extension 24), andthen bending the top portion of this extension at an angle to the platein order to provide the flange 28 which may conveniently be grasped bythe user of the lever. Flange 28 may be formed of conventional practicesin a separate bending operation, or by using a suitable progressive diein a press so that the bending is performed sequentially after thepunching.

Provided in the body of the plate 14 is an aperture 30, this aperturebeing located remotely from the finger 24 and generally in that endportion of the plate from which the finger extends. In the particularembodiments, aperture 30 is located near both the bottom edge 18 and theside edge 20. Another aperture 32 is provided, in this instance, a slotpositioned generally in that end portion of the plate from which thefinger piece 26 is formed, and in the particular embodiment is locatedat or adjacent the 3 I v side edge22 and the bottomedge 18. Theseapertures are also punched when the finger and finger piece are blankedout.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown an end view, in section, of theplate 14 and a portion of the side member 36 of the machine, taken inthe direction of sight lines 2-2 on FIG/l. It will be seen that a pairoftubular eyelets 34 are provided, one each being fastened in theaperture 30 and slot 32 by upsetting the ends of the eyelet. Thefastening is such that the upset ends of the eyelets are relieved fromthe surfaces of the plate (as shown), so that the eyelets are movable intheir respective aperture and the slot, one being rotatable and theother being slidable. The eyelets are dimensioned so that they willreceive the mounting screws and 12 therethrough with preferably, but notnecessarily, a snug fit. It is to be noted that when the plate 14 isfastened to the side member 36, the heads of the screws bear against theeyelets which in turn bear against the side member 36. Since the eyeletscan move in their respective aperture and slot, the plate is thus freeto be rotated about, the eyelet in aperture 30 as a pivot point, thisrotation being permitted by the sliding of the other eyelet in slot 32.

Referring again to FIG. 1, it will be noted that the finger extension 24is fitted between the rolls 4 and 6 of the machine. (In these machines,each roll is generally a cylindrical shaft on which is mounted a rubbersleeve with a portion of the shafts being exposed at each end. Thisprovides a spacing between the ends of the shafts into which the fingerextension 24 may be inserted.)

With the lever 2 thus inserted, it will be observed that by liftingupwardly on the finger piece 26-28, the finger extension 24 is caused tomove to the right (as viewed in FIGS. 1 and.4) thus forcing the end 38of roll 4 and the roll itself away from roll 6 and against its springbias 7. Such motion will disengage the gears 40 and 42 to permit theslave roll 4 to turn freely. With the rolls separated and roll 4 beingrelatively free to turn, any paper that is jammed therebetween may bereadily removed without tearing. Having removed the paper, the fingerpiece 26-28 is released, thus allowing the bias of roll 4 to move theroll back against its companion roll 6. However, it is to be noticedthat since the lever 2 is mounted slidably on eyelets 34, then when thefinger piece 26-28 is released, the lever will drop back to its normalposition in which the finger extension 24 does not bear against roll 4with any force, thus eliminating deleterious wear of either the roll orthe finger piece itself.

In view of the above it will be seen that the several objects of theinvention are achieved and other advantageous results attained.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in itsapplication to the details of construction and arrangement of partsillustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capableof other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in variousways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminologyemployed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

As many changes could be made in the above constructions withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention, it is intended that allmatter contained in the above description or shown in the ace ompanyingdrawings, shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitingsense, and it is also intended that the appended claims shall cover allsuch equivalent variations as come within the true spirit and scope ofthe invention.

Having thus describedthe invention, what is claimed is:

1. A release lever. for" separating one rotary member from anotherrotary member comprising a plate of sheet metal, a finger, extendingfrom an edge thereof in the plane of the plate and adjacent one endthereof; a finger piece projecting from the plate at an angle to theplane thereof; and the plate being provided with a pair of aperturestherethrough, one of the apertures being circular and positionedremotely from said finger but adjacent said one. end, and the otheraperture being a slot positioned remotely. from said finger but in theplate portion from which said finger piece projects.

2. The lever of claim 1 in which said plate is approximately rectangularin shape and having side, top and bottom edges, said finger projectingfrom one of the top edges near one side of the plate, said finger piecebeing an extension of the plate material itself projecting from said topedge near the other side edge of the plate, said one aperture beinglocated nearboth said one side edge and the bottom edge of the plate,and said slot being located near both said other side edge and said thebottom edge of the plate, the length of the slot being approximatelyparallel to said other side edge.

3. The lever of claim 1 including an eyelet having spaced flangesthereon and being movably fastened in each of said apertures, with theflanges of the eyelets slidably enclosing the plate therebetween, theeyelets being adapted to receive mounting screws therethrough whereby,when said plate is fastened to a fixture by means of said screws, theplate is adapted to be swung about the screw in the circular aperture asa pivot point, the eyelet in the slot riding therein as the plate isswung, and said finger being adapted to be fitted between the rotarymemers.

4. The lever of claim 2 including an eyelet having spaced flangesthereon and being movably fastened in each of said apertures, with theflanges of the eyelets slidably enclosing the plate therebetween, theeyelets being adapted to receive mounting screws therethrough whereby,when said plate is fastened to a fixture by means of said screws, .theplate is adapted to be swung about the screw in the circular aperture asa pivot point, the eyelet in the slot riding therein as the plate isswung, and said finger being adapted to be fitted between the rotarymemers. I

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 670,416 3/1901 Cronk 74-5231,672,220 6/1928 Hughes 74-523 2,886,095 5/1959 Heyl 308--3.6

OTHER REFERENCES Gehrung: Hollow Point Bearing, August 1965,, RCA,Technical Notes, RCA TN 639, 308-2, Scientific Library.

FRED C. MATIERN, 1a., Primary Examiner.

W. S. RATLIFF, Assistant Examiner.

